Supportive Card

A friend of ours is walking in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer for the second time (wow!). We're going to one of her fundraisers soon so I wanted to bring her a card for encouragement. I had already used Causabella for her last walk, so I thought I would do something else. I thought of the marvellous bra cards I'd seen on splitcoast and various blogs. These are too numerous to mention individually, so consider this a great big thanks to all of you for your inspiring posts, most especially Frances in Australia for her easy-to-use template.

The card base is Blush Blossom, and the bra is made from a pretty rose petal patterned paper. I sponged in a bit of cleavage using blush blossom and creamy caramel, accented with a bit of versamark dazzle for shimmer. Word of caution when sponging: you are only one dab away from going from saucy to bad rash. (Yes, you may correctly infer that this is card number two.)

I accented the paper piecing with some sheer ribbon, which I ruched myself. (This was a royal PITA! Basically, I used a long straight stitch and gathered it up. But it's really cheap ribbon so it doesn't sew or gather nicely. And I used up my bobbin thread so sewing machine #2 is now out of commission - see quilted teddybear post for demise of #1 - until I can remember how to wind the bobbin. Luckily in-house sewing machine support will be here in a few weeks if I can't figure it out.)

I did persevere on gathering the ribbon because it just looked so amazing. How I suffer for my art! The ribbon is held in place with sticky strip. I had planned to use the same kind of ribbon for the straps, but the final length of gathering didn't go well for me (thread snapped, and I almost did too) and frankly I didn't have the patience to baste by hand. So, paper straps it was!

The final accents were a little pink breast cancer ribbon and a flower with rhinestone centre for the middle, which nicely hides the ribbon ends. I love how the ribbon pushes up on the edges of the flower making it look like it's nestled right in. It's a Pretties kit flower that was hanging around in the box, already dyed, just waiting for a home on a project. I love it when an orphaned embellishment finds a good home!

I used my Karen Foster snap stamps to spell out "a message of support" inside, being one who is unable to resist a pun, especially a bad one. Also there had to be some stamping on here somewhere!

Thanks for stopping by. I do feel I must say that in real life the colours are better. I really must get myself a light box. And find the thingy that goes with the camera into the computer. And find the tripod. (You can see why I use my scanner, which is attached to the computer already!)

Supplies: Paper: blush blossom, spring petals (Pamela Woods - creative imaginations); ribbon - Michael's; Pretties kit flower dyed with riding hood red, rhinestones.

Quilted teddybear

A colleague at work recently celebrated the birth of his daughter. I was asked to make a card to circulate at the office for well wishes.

I wanted it to be quite large for all those signatures, and a special card. This colleague is also a stamper, so no shortcuts or he'll know!

I started with a "quilted" background panel in the Parisian designer paper from the last catalogue. I had sewn a few lines when my sewing machine jammed. This put the kibosh on the card for the moment.

...time lapse (picture madly bustling family, as in a movie on fast foward, scuttling hither and yon doing laundry, groceries, going to Sparks, to the park, going to work, making dinner, going to T-ball, doing dishes, but definitely not stamping) ....

Ahh, back to the stamping desk. I dug up my other sewing machine and (importantly) remembered where DH spotted the foot pedal. I got that all fired up and tried out different designer paper in bigger squares. The previous effort used 3/4" squares but they were too weeny and fussy for such a large panel. These are 1 3/8" squares and suit much better. For some reason I had to sew on the paper upside down for the zigzag to look good. It's a better machine and probably has some fancy locking stitch on the "wrong" side. (Apparently, those who actually use their sewing machines for fabric - yes, some people really do - sew on the wrong side so this feature does make sense.) Anyway, I had to re-sew one and was able to start in the same hole so it doesn't show. (I felt inordinately clever about this. Don't give me a hard time as I seldom feel clever about anything, never mind inordinately clever so I plan to bask in the feeling for some time to come.)

The bear is stamped in chocolate brown and embossed in espresso. I watercoloured him with reinkers. What a fun technique! It gives such rich colours. I did find that the chocolate chip broke down a bit and went a bit red, so will plan to test colour combinations on scraps first. I accented him with some Walnut Stain distress stickles. The sentiment is also embossed in espresso and accented with some adorable button brads from my stash. (Thank you, AP!) The quilted panel is on a larger RHR panel, to fit on the card base. I punched the border for an accent. I really didn't want to mess around with calculating extra squares, and where the middle should be, etc. (remember I'm only a pretend quilter), so I made my quilt exactly 3 squares high by almost 5 squares wide (I had to cut off the extra little bit hanging over the edge, I told you I'm not a real quilter). Anyway, if you have the strength of character or a weakness for exactitude, you could calculate your measurements and get squares to fit your panel exactly. I accented with some ribbon, which in hindsight should have emerged through a perfectly placed eyelet, but I only thought of that after I had the slot punched. Oh well, I don't think anyone at the office follows Debbie Olson, so they'll never know the difference.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this card. Several people have commented on how heavy it is, so it must be nice! hahahah :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies (all SU except pen, brads & stickles): Stamps: Full of Life, Favourite Teddybear; Ink: chocolate chip craft; Paper: watercolour, whisper white (for quilt), Bella Rose dsp (for quilt), Riding Hood Red, Pirouette Pink, Chocolate Chip; Other: walnut stain stickles, reinkers (Kiwi Kiss, Choc Chip, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa), Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon, slot punch, sewing machine (2 sewing machines, to be exact), black micron pen for balloon strings.

Stamping Extravaganza!

Two friends of mine hosted a Stamping Extravaganza on Sunday afternoon and what an extravaganza it was! Picture a beautiful home in the country, delicious refreshments, gracious hosts and 24 ladies stamping away on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It was wonderful! A great big thank you to the co-hosts! You're the best! And another thank you to the ladies who came out for an afternoon of stamping and general merriment. A special thanks to those who came from out of town, and to those who were new to stamping.

The projects we made are shown above (picture them looking better photographed by a camera whiz using a spiffy light tent). Because many were new to stamping, I kept them fairly straightforward. We also made a gift box to put the paper in (lid - Bella Rose designer paper, bottom - Riding Hood Red, organza ribbon tied around). We made 3 of each design except the birds (2) and bear (1).

Bear: Under the Stars (I loved the squadron of mosquitoes diving in), Wow Flowers; Kraft, Handsome Hunter, Brocade Blue/Bordering Blue (ran out of former); Basic Black, Whisper White ink; Watercolour Wonder Crayons

Scalloped Oval: Oval All; Riding Hood Red Ink; Very Vanilla, So Saffron, RHR, Pumpkin Pie, cardstock, Washington Apple designer paper; Large Oval Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch; Earth Elements brads, So Saffron marker

Birds: Branch Out, Sincere Salutations; Whisper White, textured Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Chocolate Chip; Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point ink; buttons (assorted colours, corduroy also)

Pink Birthday: Priceless, Hugs and Wishes; Cameo Coral, Pirouette Pink, Baja Breeze ink; Whisper White, Cameo Coral, Pirouette Pink cardstock; Pretties half-back pearls and rhinestone brads (2 pearls, 1 brad per person), Top Note die

I'll be having an all-occasion stamping class myself this spring (just as soon as I can convince DH it's a good idea, or possibly sooner). I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for stopping by!

Feeder Friends

I made this card for my mother-in-law for Mothers' Day. She has a number of birdfeeders so I thought she might like it. (I was enchanted by it when I saw it.) I have a couple of bird+house mouse stamps but this is the first time I've inked this one up.

DH is a bit puzzled by the picture. He doesn't understand what a mouse would be doing in this situation. I'm not sure whether I should be glad that he's paying such close attention to my cards or whether I should be concerned that he's looking for the reason the mouse is there. The mouse is there because it's cute. I explained that the house mice are portrayed in numerous cute situations that aren't necessarily zoologically correct. The hundreds of images are there for colouring cute fuzzy little animals in charming/humourous/tender situations, not for illustrating a Canadian Geographic special issue. Bless his heart, but he was still baffled. Just as I am baffled by his seemingly endless ability to watch tv shows about digging holes or building bridges. I can see watching one show to see how to dig a hole, or build a bridge. But after that, don't you have it covered? I suppose he might well wonder why someone would need more than one stamp.... I'd better let him watch as many hole-digging, bridge-building shows as his little baffled heart desires!

Well, if you've made it this far, I shall reward (?) you with a description of this card. Stamped with palette noir (stazon buried on desk), and coloured with Tombow markers. Many many Tombow markers. Think of the house mice I'll be able to colour when my new shipment of grays arrives later this month! Poor DH won't know what hit him. Maybe I should purchase a House Mouse digging a hole and make him a Father's Day card.... I digress. There is a little bit of sparkle added to the feeder hanger and magnolia blossoms with my glitter pen. I thought about stickles (indeed they are never far from my mind), but thought they might be too overbearing. I just love those little chickadees, with their sweet little DH-like expressions. What is that mouse doing there?!?

Supplies: Stamp: Stampabilities (House Mouse) - Feeder Friends; Ink: Palette black noir; Paper: watercolour, basic black, garden green; Other: ribbon from my stash, Tombow markers, Sakura glitter pen, 4 episodes of In Treatment and half an Office (this week was hilarious - I nearly pmp laughing at Meredith's casual Friday outfit).

That's it for stamping and slightly related to stamping blather. Now for the NSR blather for those interested in DD2's condition. DD2 is finally on the mend, almost a week later. She's had a rough week, but she's feeling better and back to her chipper little self. It's good to have her back. DD1 has been very dear, making her pictures to cheer her up and being very solicitous all around.

I'm almost ready for the big Stamping Extravaganza on Sunday - all 24 spots are filled! There's going to be a whole lot of stamping going on! I'll share the projects next week after the class is over. I don't know if any of the people going read this blog, but I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise of the cards and gift box they'll be making.